The Soil · Submission
Submitter
The word God gave, what it asks of a life, and how a person starts.
Indeed, those who submit themselves absolutely to GOD alone, while leading a righteous life, will receive their recompense from their Lord; they have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve.
[2:112]Submitter is the word this site uses for a person who has handed their life to God alone. It is not a word anyone here invented. God named it, and the Quran says so.
This page is for anyone wondering whether that word could describe them. What it means. What the declaration is, and where it comes from. What the righteous actually do. And what a person does first.
On This Page
Five parts, and the questions people ask after each one.
A Name God Gave
The word arrives with its own verse. God says where it came from: “He is the one who named you ‘Submitters’ originally.” [22:78]
So the name is not a movement, and not a community that chose a label for itself. God gave it. The footnote to that verse adds where it entered the record. Abraham was the first messenger to use the words Submission and Submitter, in the prayer he made with his son: “Our Lord, make us submitters to You, and from our descendants let there be a community of submitters to You.” [2:128]
The same verse says what the religion is called, and it is not named after a person or a place: “The only religion approved by GOD is ‘Submission.’” [3:19] The heading over 3:85 in this translation says the same thing: Only One Religion Approved by God.
That is worth holding on to before anything else on this page. The name describes what a person does, not where they were born or whose book they carry.
Two Halves of One Word
God defines a submitter in a single verse, and it has two halves: “Indeed, those who submit themselves absolutely to GOD alone, while leading a righteous life, will receive their recompense from their Lord; they have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve.” [2:112]
Submit absolutely to God alone. Lead a righteous life. One is about where worship goes, the other about how days are spent. The translation's heading over that verse is Submission: The Only Religion.
Neither half stands without the other. A person who believes correctly and lives badly has one half. A person who lives decently and prays to someone beside God has the other. God joins them in one sentence, and attaches the promise to both: nothing to fear, and no grief.
Both halves are given again, with the whole of a life in them: “Say, ‘My Contact Prayers (Salat), my worship practices, my life and my death, are all devoted absolutely to GOD alone, the Lord of the universe.’” [6:162] Prayer, worship, living and dying. The list leaves nothing out.
Questions About the Word
Is a submitter the same thing as a Muslim?
The word Muslim is the Arabic for submitter, so in the Quran they are one word. God says He named us that: “He is the one who named you ‘Submitters’ originally.” [22:78] In ordinary use today the word has drifted. It now usually names a community a person is born into, with a history and a set of practices gathered long after the Prophet died. That is not what the Quran means by it. So this site uses submitter, because the Quran's meaning is the one that matters here. A person is a submitter by submitting, not by inheriting a name.
Why does the Quran call Abraham a submitter when he came long before the Prophet?
Because the religion did not start with the Prophet. God states it of Abraham directly: “Abraham was neither Jewish, nor Christian; he was a monotheist submitter. He never was an idol worshiper.” [3:67] Abraham used the word himself. God told him to submit, and he answered at once: “I submit to the Lord of the universe.” [2:131] He then told his children the same, and so did Jacob: “do not die except as submitters.” [2:132] The footnote to 22:78 says Abraham was the first messenger to use the words Submission and Submitter. So the name is older than any of the communities that argue over it now.
Is Submission a different religion from the one the messengers brought?
No. It is the same one, named plainly. God says what every messenger was sent with: “We did not send any messenger before you except with the inspiration: ‘There is no god except Me; you shall worship Me alone.’” [21:25] That “We” is God speaking. The believers say it of all of them together, and refuse to rank them: “We make no distinction among any of them. To Him alone we are submitters.” [3:84] So Submission is the one message, under the name God gave it.
The Declaration
A person who wants to submit usually asks what to say. The Quran answers, and it starts further back than most people expect. God makes the declaration before any of us does.
God testifies to it Himself: “GOD bears witness that there is no god except He, and so do the angels and those who possess knowledge.” [3:18]
Read the order in that verse. God first. Then the angels. Then the people who know. A person saying it joins a testimony already being made.
The footnote to that verse names it. It calls this the proclamation of faith, the Shahaadah, and says the one decreed by God is: there is no god except God. The same sentence carries its own heading elsewhere in this translation. Over 37:35, where people are told it and turn away, the heading reads The First Commandment.
Saying It Ourselves
God then hands the sentence to us as something to know and to act on: “You shall know that: ‘There is no other god beside GOD,’ and ask forgiveness of your sins and the sins of all believing men and women.” [47:19]
Look where the verse goes next. Straight from the statement to asking forgiveness. The declaration was never meant to sit still.
The footnote to 47:19 adds something easy to miss. The first pillar of the religion is stated in the sura named after Muhammad, and it is devoted to God alone.
Then the Quran gives the person's own words, and praises them: “Who can utter better words than one who invites to GOD, works righteousness, and says, ‘I am one of the submitters’?” [41:33] The heading over that verse is simply Submitters.
So there are three steps, and they are in that order. God testifies. We are told to know it. We say it ourselves.
Questions About the Declaration
What exactly do we say, and is there a ceremony?
The words are the ones God testifies to Himself: there is no god except God. The footnote to 3:18 calls this the proclamation of faith, the Shahaadah, and says it is the one decreed by God. The Quran prescribes no ceremony for it. There is no witness to find, no register to sign, no place to go and no person whose permission is needed. God tells us to know it and to ask forgiveness [47:19], and praises the person who says “I am one of the submitters” [41:33]. So it can be said alone, today, out loud or quietly. What follows it matters more than how it was said.
Should the Prophet's name be added to the declaration?
No, and the footnote to 3:18 is direct about it. It says the declaration decreed by God is there is no god except God, and that adding a second proclamation about Muhammad is idolatry. The reason given is one a reader can check. Proclaiming that one messenger is God's messenger, while not saying the same of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and the rest, makes a distinction among them. God commands against exactly that, and the believers refuse it in their own words: “We make no distinction among any of them.” [3:84] The fuller case, with the verses it rests on, is on the Monotheism page in this section.
Does saying it make someone a submitter?
Saying it starts it. Living it is the rest, and God joins the two in one verse: “those who submit themselves absolutely to GOD alone, while leading a righteous life” [2:112]. God also shows what the words are worth without the life behind them. He describes people whose prayers are happening while they are not: “who are totally heedless of their prayers. They only show off.” [107:5-6] So the declaration is a beginning and not a certificate. Nobody is asked to be finished on the first day.
What the Righteous Do
The second half of 2:112 is a righteous life. The Quran does not leave that to taste. It defines it, and it opens by ruling out the thing people reach for first.
“Righteousness is not turning your faces towards the east or the west. Righteous are those who believe in GOD, the Last Day, the angels, the scripture, and the prophets; and they give the money, cheerfully, to the relatives, the orphans, the needy, the traveling alien, the beggars, and to free the slaves; and they observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and give the obligatory charity (Zakat); and they keep their word whenever they make a promise; and they steadfastly persevere in the face of persecution, hardship, and war. These are the truthful; these are the righteous.” [2:177]
The first line takes away the easy answer. Facing the right way is not it.
What is left is a list anyone can check themselves against. Five things believed. Money given, and given cheerfully, to six named people. Prayer kept. Obligatory charity (Zakat) paid. Promises kept. Hardship borne without walking away.
Most of that list is money and conduct. Four of the items cost something. God closes the verse with two names for the same people: these are the truthful, these are the righteous.
The Two Words Together
Submitter and righteous describe one person twice over, once by where the worship goes and once by what the days hold.
God lists them side by side, and names men and women separately each time: “The submitting men, the submitting women, the believing men, the believing women” [33:35] The verse runs on through the obedient, the truthful, the steadfast, the reverent, the charitable, the fasting and the chaste, and ends with forgiveness and a great recompense for all of them.
Joseph asked for both in one prayer, at the end of a life that had been hard: “Let me die as a submitter, and count me with the righteous.” [12:101] He did not ask to be remembered or rewarded. He asked to still be one of them at the end.
Questions About the Righteous
Who counts as righteous, in the Quran's own words?
The Quran answers that in one verse, and it begins by clearing away a wrong answer: “Righteousness is not turning your faces towards the east or the west.” [2:177] What follows is a list. Belief in God, the Last Day, the angels, the scripture and the prophets. Money given cheerfully to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveling alien, beggars, and to free the slaves. The Contact Prayers (Salat) observed and the obligatory charity (Zakat) given. Promises kept. Hardship borne without giving up. God ends the verse by naming them twice over: these are the truthful, these are the righteous. Nothing on the list is out of reach, and most of it costs something.
Can a person be righteous without believing, or believe without being righteous?
God puts the two together every time, which is the answer. The promise in 2:112 is for those who submit absolutely to God alone while leading a righteous life, and the two halves arrive in the same sentence. The same pairing is made when the reward is described: “Anyone who works righteousness, male or female, while believing, we will surely grant them a happy life in this world.” [16:97] That “we” is God speaking. Works righteousness, and believing. Both. So a good life aimed at the wrong place is missing something, and a correct belief with nothing under it is missing something too. God never splits them.
Does a submitter have to be perfect?
No, and God describes real people. Believers fall, remember God, ask forgiveness, “and they do not persist in sins, knowingly” [3:135]. The standard is getting up again. God also leaves the door open in the strongest terms, addressed to the people who went furthest: “O My servants who exceeded the limits, never despair of GOD's mercy. For GOD forgives all sins.” [39:53] So the question is never whether a person has a clean record. It is which direction they are facing now.
Not a Label Anyone Is Born Into
Every submitter the Quran names became one. None of them inherited it.
Abraham was told to submit and answered in the same breath [2:131]. His children were told the same, and Jacob told his: “do not die except as submitters.” [2:132] A queen said it after an argument she lost: “My Lord, I have wronged my soul. I now submit with Solomon to GOD, Lord of the universe.” [27:44] Moses put it to his own people as a condition: “if you have really believed in GOD, then put your trust in Him, if you are really submitters.” [10:84]
A patriarch, his children, a queen, a crowd in the desert. Different centuries, different languages, one word.
God also says the word is not held by one community. The heading over 2:62 in this translation is Unity of All Submitters, and the verse names Jews, Christians and converts, then gives three conditions: “anyone who (1) believes in GOD, and (2) believes in the Last Day, and (3) leads a righteous life, will receive their recompense from their Lord.” [2:62]
That verse is about individuals and not about groups. It does not say every community is the same. It says the three conditions are what God counts, wherever the person is standing when they meet them.
How a Person Starts
There is a verse for anyone who doubts they believe strongly enough to begin. It is unusually gentle, and it reverses the order most people assume.
“The Arabs said, ‘We are Mu’mens (believers).’ Say, ‘You have not believed; what you should say is, “We are Muslims (submitters),” until belief is established in your hearts.’” [49:14] The heading over it reads Muslim vs Mu’men.
God corrects them, and then shows them where to stand. Start by submitting. Belief settles into the heart afterwards, not before.
That is the honest answer to anyone waiting to feel certain. Certainty is not the entry fee. Submitting is the beginning, and the heart catches up.
God describes the submitting itself as something He commanded a messenger to do, in the first person: “I was commanded to submit to the Lord of the universe.” [40:66] It is an instruction obeyed, not a feeling achieved.
What Follows
After the declaration come the practices, and the Quran keeps them few. Four duties, each one commanded in the Quran: the Contact Prayers (Salat), the obligatory charity (Zakat), fasting during Ramadan, and the pilgrimage (Hajj) for anyone who can make the journey.
God says they were not given to be heavy: “He has chosen you and has placed no hardship on you in practicing your religion—the religion of your father Abraham.” [22:78]
Each duty has its own page in Practices, with what it is, how it is done, and what the Quran says about doing it badly. This page does not repeat them.
What is worth saying here is the order. The declaration first, because it settles the direction. The duties after, because they are how the direction is kept.
Questions About Starting
How does someone become a submitter?
By submitting. The Quran sets no ceremony, no witness and no register, and nobody's permission is needed. What God does give is the sentence to know — there is no god except God [47:19] — and a verse for anyone who does not feel ready. The Arabs were told that the right thing to say is “We are Muslims (submitters),” until belief is established in their hearts [49:14]. Submitting comes first, and the heart follows. In practice that means saying it, meaning it, and then beginning the four duties. Reading the Quran directly is the other half, because that is where the rest of the answers are.
What are the duties of a submitter?
Four, and each one is commanded in the Quran. The Contact Prayers (Salat), the obligatory charity (Zakat), fasting during Ramadan, and the pilgrimage (Hajj) for anyone able to make the journey. God says what they are not: “He has chosen you and has placed no hardship on you in practicing your religion—the religion of your father Abraham.” [22:78] The religious duties page in Practices takes each one in turn. Underneath the four is the thing they exist for. God gives the prayer's purpose in His own voice: “observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) to remember Me.” [20:14]
Does a person have to leave their family or their community?
The Quran does not ask for that, and it commands kindness to parents in the same breath as worship: “Your Lord has decreed that you shall not worship except Him, and your parents shall be honored.” [17:23] The one place it draws a line is where a parent asks for idol worship. Even there the instruction is to refuse the request and keep the relationship: “If they try to force you to set up any idols beside Me, do not obey them. But continue to treat them amicably in this world.” [31:15] So the worship changes and the kindness does not. Most of what changes is invisible to everyone else.
From the Word to a Life, in Five Steps
The whole page in order. Each step rests on the verse beside it.
God names it
The word is His. “He is the one who named you ‘Submitters’ originally.” [22:78]
God testifies first
The declaration is God's before it is ours. “GOD bears witness that there is no god except He.” [3:18]
We are told to know it
“You shall know that: ‘There is no other god beside GOD.’” [47:19] And the verse goes straight on to asking forgiveness.
We say it ourselves
“Who can utter better words than one who invites to GOD, works righteousness, and says, ‘I am one of the submitters’?” [41:33]
The life carries it
Submitting absolutely, and a righteous life, in one sentence [2:112]. The four duties are how that direction is kept.
What the Quran Says About the Submitters
The verses this page rests on, in one place.
Indeed, those who submit themselves absolutely to GOD alone, while leading a righteous life, will receive their recompense from their Lord; they have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve.[2:112]
The definition, in two halves, with the promise attached.
GOD bears witness that there is no god except He, and so do the angels and those who possess knowledge.[3:18]
The declaration, testified by God before anyone else says it.
You shall know that: "There is no other god beside GOD," and ask forgiveness of your sins and the sins of all believing men and women.[47:19]
The same sentence, handed to us to know and to act on.
Who can utter better words than one who invites to GOD, works righteousness, and says, "I am one of the submitters"?[41:33]
The person saying it in their own mouth.
Righteousness is not turning your faces towards the east or the west. Righteous are those who believe in GOD, the Last Day, the angels, the scripture, and the prophets; and they give the money, cheerfully, to the relatives, the orphans, the needy, the traveling alien, the beggars, and to free the slaves; and they observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and give the obligatory charity (Zakat); and they keep their word whenever they make a promise; and they steadfastly persevere in the face of persecution, hardship, and war. These are the truthful; these are the righteous.[2:177]
The definition of a righteous life, in God's own list.
You have not believed; what you should say is, 'We are Muslims (submitters),' until belief is established in your hearts.[49:14]
Submitting comes first. The heart follows.
Abraham was neither Jewish, nor Christian; he was a monotheist submitter. He never was an idol worshiper.[3:67]
Older than any of the communities that argue over the word.
Let me die as a submitter, and count me with the righteous.[12:101]
Joseph asked for both, at the end of a hard life.
Nothing Stands Between
There is no office to visit and nobody whose approval is needed. The declaration God testifies to can be said alone, today, and the life that carries it starts the next morning. If the question now is what to actually do, the four duties are in Practices, and the Quran itself is one click away.
Growth Prompt
Say the declaration out loud, by itself, with nothing added: there is no god except God. Then write down what you were doing an hour ago, and ask whether a person watching you would have guessed it. Not to score yourself. To see where the gap is, so you know what to work on this week.
If someone followed me for one ordinary day, what would they say my life is pointed at?
Keep growing
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